Monday, June 27, 2011

What were they thinking when they put the 4th of July right in the middle of swimsuit season?

I woke up early this morning and asked my husband this question.
His reply? “They weren’t thinking about that,” he said.
Not thinking ahead is exactly the same problem many dieters have when it comes to holiday weekend eating; they aren’t thinking or planning ahead. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of having a conversation with yourself prior to eating. It’s the antidote to eating on auto pilot or mindlessly.
Here are some common thinking problems and helpful responses associated with holiday weekend eating.
1. “I don’t feel like planning.”—Do it anyway.
2. “It’s a holiday. Everyone’s having hotdogs and burgers!”—So can you.
Decide if you’ll have Hoffy low-fat dogs or Hebrew National fat free. You want the “real deal”? Go for it—once. Dr. Melina Jampolis, a board certified physician nutrition specialist suggests ‘build a better burger.’ Use extra lean ground turkey or extra lean ground beef mixed with equal parts ground mushrooms (cuts calories in 1/2 without cutting serving size), use whole wheat bun or thin sandwich roll, romaine lettuce instead of iceberg for nutritional boost, and spread with triangle of laughing cow lite cheese instead of regular cheese. Of course your favorite mustard is better than mayo.
You can even add a little honey to make it tastier.
3. “I don’t want to stand out by bringing a low calorie dish.”—Why not bring something healthy and delicious? It’s hard not to be happy about all the terrific summer fruits and vegetables.
4. “I want to enjoy myself.”—Great, so in addition to delicious, healthy foods, what else can you focus on? How about the pursuit of happiness? How about a hike, playing in the pool, the beach or a game of croquet?
Doing extra exercise is a great strategy for expending extra calories and feeling a sense of freedom (runners’ high). If all else fails, get back on track and give yourself credit for doing so.
If the Founding Fathers had to wear bikinis to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, they would have been as thoughtful about what they ate as they were about the words that helped give birth to this great country.

Have a fabulous 4th!


Ellen is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco and Redwood City, California. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and incorporates the use of mindfulness into the treatment of depression, anxiety, and emotional overeating. She runs a holistic weight loss program called Center for Thoughtful Weight Loss, www.thoughtfulweightloss.com. You can email Ellen at ellen@thoughtfulweightloss.com
Copyright © 2011 Ellen N. Resnick, LCSW

Monday, June 13, 2011

Opportunity Knocks

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
—Charles R. Swindoll
If food is your “go-to” for good, bad, and indifferent events, this reaction is going to sabotage you if you’re trying to lose weight.
Many people start off telling me about their week by saying, “I was doing really great on my plan until…” Fill in the blank—opportunity knocks often for all of us.
Let’s say you’re asked to make something for your child’s school fundraiser. Against your better judgment, you decide to make brownies. Somehow you convince yourself that if you make them in one inch squares, you’ll be OK. But really, without even realizing it, that decision to cut them into small bites was an excuse to have one. And one would’ve been fine, except you ended up having 10.
Let’s face it. You wouldn’t encourage a newly sober alcoholic to socialize at happy hour with his or her friends. Same deal—when you’re new to learning tools for permanent weight loss, you’ll need to avoid situations that are likely to lead to an eating episode you’ll regret.

You never wake up the next day and say, “Boy, am I glad I binged on those brownies yesterday.”

Just about anything can derail weight loss efforts UNLESS you have the tools and a resolute plan to deal with life’s many stressors and challenges.

Today’s tip:

Find ways to bring mindfulness into your life, and especially into your meals and snacks to reduce opportunities for eating on auto pilot. Eat slowly and deliberately. Mindful eating means paying full attention to each piece of food you choose to eat, how it looks, how it smells, how you cut it, the muscles you use to raise it to your mouth, the texture and taste of the food as you chew it slowly. Be fully absorbed by the experience so you can savor your food. As you learn to do so, you’ll learn you CAN stop at the one brownie you planned to eat because you fully tasted and enjoyed it. Don’t worry, another opportunity will come to enjoy other delicious treats in the same mindful way.
When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters—one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
~John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959

Take the opportunities to improve your health and well-being today!

Ellen is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco and
Redwood City, California. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy and incorporates the use of mindfulness into the treatment of
depression, anxiety, and emotional overeating. She runs a holistic
weight loss program called Center for Thoughtful Weight Loss,
www.thoughtfulweightloss.com. You can email Ellen at ellen@thoughtfulweightloss.com
copyright © 2011 Ellen N. Resnick, LCSW

Monday, June 6, 2011

Shrink and Wash: How to Keep the Weight Off—Permanently

This week is the first episode of my new video series on permanent weight loss.

Today’s guest is my hairdresser Wendy, a chronic dieter.
In this episode of “Shrink and Wash,” I explore some great tools for weight-loss in a hilarious setting. Enjoy!

You’ll learn:

  1. to identify the sabotaging thoughts that can undermine your diet and exercise plans
  2. to use “the mindful pause” technique
  3. to identify healthy ways to relax
  4. to work on letting go of perfectionism
  5. to give yourself credit for stopping unplanned eating at any time

Stay tuned for our next video episode!

Would you like to be my next guest? Do you have any questions on weight-loss you would like me to answer? Email me at ellen@thoughtfulweightloss.com. Hear Ellen live on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 6 EST and 3 PST to learn more about her work helping people lose weight permanently. For details, click here.

copyright © 2011 Ellen N. Resnick, LCSW